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No. 608,233. Patented Aug. 2, I898.

- F. R. SIMKIN.

PLACKET CLOSER.

( Model (Application filed Apr. 27, 1897.)

Inventor.-

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FRANK R. SIMKIN, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO. l/VILLIAM A. CANTY, OF SAME PLACE.

PLACKET-C LOSER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 608,233, dated August 2, 1898. Application filed April 27,1897. Serial No. 634:,0'7'7. (N0 model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK It. SIMKIN, a citizen of England, residing in Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Placket-Closers for Closing the Placket-O penin gs in Dress-Skirts and Similar Articles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to fastening devices, and especially to placket-closers for closing the placket-openings in dress-skirts and similar articles, the object being to provide an improved fastening device of this type which will be especially adapted to accommodate itself to the. movements of the flaps or folds at the sides of the openings which it is designed to close.

My improved fastening device embodies as its essential features a pair of strips, preferably of flexible material, such as steel, or a suitable non-metallic material-such as celluloid, whalebone, or other substance-connected at one end by a universal joint in such a manner that the connected ends of the strips may move or yield longitudinally relatively to each other.

In the drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved fastening device, showing the same partly open. Fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the fastening device opened substantially to its usual extent when in position, the view being taken from the opposite side to that shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an edge view of the fastening device closed. Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail view illustrating an elbow for connecting the ends of the strips and is the preferred form of connector therefor. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail side elevation of the strips joined by means of a modified form of connecting device. Fig. 6 is an end View of the same. Fig. 7 is a sectional end View of said modification, and Fig. 8 is a detail side elevation of another modification of the connecting de vice.

Similar characters designate like parts in all the figures of the drawings.

The reference numerals 2 and 2 indicate the respective strips which form the main portions of my improved fastening device or placket-fastener, and this, as before stated, may be of any suitable material, preferably flexible. The strip 2 is substantially similar to the flat strip 2, except that at its lower end it is reduced somewhat in width and bent to form an offset portion or car 2" substantially at right angles to the body portion of the strip 2.v Each of these strips is perforated at its lower end, the one in the flat end of the strip and the other in the offset or ear 2". These perforations are in the nature of round rivet-holes and are shaped to receive the body portions 4 and 5 ofrivets formed integral with the connector, by means of which the strips are joined together. This connector is preferably in the form of a tubular elbowstud 3, and the rivets may be disposed advantageously at right angles with respect to each other, with the heads 4 and 5 of the rivets engaging the fiat faces of the respective strips on the side thereof opposite that at which the body portion of the connector lies, both strips being held in place, so that they will be free to move relatively to each other on the connecting-stud.

It will be obvious from the foregoing description that the elbow-stud 8 serves as a means for permitting the strips 2 and 2 to be swung not only toward and from each other in ed gewise direction, as indicated in Fig. 2, but also flatwise, and that when suitably secured by stitching or otherwise to the material at the edges of a placket-openingfor example, the placket opening in a dress skirtthe strips may yield and move in a vertical direction with respect to each other, in accordance with the movements of the sides of the material or skirt, and thus prevent puckering of the fabric at the point where the lower end of the fastening device is applied thereto.

In Figs. 5, 6, and 7 I have illustrated a modification of my invention in which an angular or L.-shaped connector 3 is employed, the two arms of the connector being pivoted to the strips 2 and 2 in substantially the same way as has just been describedwith reference to the elbow-stud shown in Figs. 1 to 4:. In Figs. 5, 6, and 7 the lower end of the strip 2 is not turned in the same manner as itis in the preceding figures, but instead the body portion of the strip is cut transversely on the line 00, and the left-hand half of the lower portion of said strip is turned on the line '3 to form substantially a right angle with the body of thestrip 2. The ear 2, formed by this turned and offset portion, is perforated, as is the corresponding end of the strip 2, in substantially the same manner as before described with reference to the other figures, for the reception of suitable rivets at and 5". The movements of the strips of the fastening device will be substantially the same with the connector shown in the last three views as they are with that illustrated in the preceding ngures-that is to say, these strips may move in a vertical direction relatively to each other and may open also both sidewise and endwise.

In Fig. 8 I have illustrated another modification, in which an angular or L-shaped connection is used. In this case both of the strips 2 and 2' have similar rounded ends, and the strips are so disposed that their side edges are normally in contact and the two members in-a common plane. The connection between the strips is made by means of two L-shaped connectors 3", substantially similar to that shown at 3', Figs. 5, G, and 7. One ear of each of these connecting members is pivoted to the lower end of the corresponding strip 2 or 2, as by riveting, and the other two cars are pivoted together in the same way, so that they may be turned relatively to each other independently of the movements of either of the strips relatively to the connector to which it is joined.

Any suitable means may be employed for connecting the upper ends of the flexible strips of my improved fastening device. In the present instance the usual glove-fastener is shown at 6; but I do not, of course, restrict myself to the use of this or any other special form of separable fastener; neither do I limit my invention to a fastening device for closing placket-openings in dress-skirts, for which purpose, however, it is especially adapted; but I may employ the same for all analogous purposes and in connection with any article with which it may be used without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having described my invention, I claim- 1. The combination, in a placket-fastener, of a pair of strips and a universal connection between the ends of said strips, for permitting edgewise and flatwise movements of the same relatively to each other.

2. The combination, in a placket-fastener, of a pair of strips and an elbow connector pivoted at its opposite ends, respectively, to the ends of said strips, for permitting edgewise and flatwise movements of the latter.

3. The combination, in aplacket-closer, of a pair of strips and a tubular elbow-stud pivoted at its opposite ends, respectively, to the ends of said strips, for permitting edgewise and flatwise movements of the latter, and having tubular rivets at its ends for holding said strips in position.

4. The combination, in a placket-closer; of a pair of strips, one of which has an ear at at the lower end thereof and transverse to the body portion of such strip; and an elbowstud pivoted at its opposite ends, respectively, to said ear and to the lower end of the other strip, for permitting edgewise and flatwise movements of the strips.

FRANK R. SIMKIN.

Witnesses:

FRED. J. Donn, WM. 11. BLODGETT. 

